More than 40 people were wounded on Friday when Israeli forces clashed with activists protesting against the West Bank separation barrier, the army and medics said. About 30 protestors sustained mainly light wounds from rubber-coated bullets and tear gas fired by Israeli troops near the West Bank village of Bilin, Palestinian medics said, according to AFP.

An army spokeswoman said that 13 troops were lightly wounded when the protestors hurled stones at them, to which they responded with crowd dispersal methods. Several hundred people, including Palestinian, Israeli and foreign peace activists, participated in Friday's demonstration, witnesses said.

Five other protestors were hurt in similar clashes in the nearby village of Nilin, according to medics.

Activists protesting against Israel's construction of the West Bank barrier have clashed with soldiers nearly every Friday for more than two years outside Bilin.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a non-binding resolution in 2004 calling for parts of the barrier inside the West Bank to be torn down and for construction there to cease.